FORD PINTO ASSIGNMENT
The Ford Pinto case involved the explosion of Ford Pinto 's due to a defective fuel system. The fuel system was designed in a way that even with a small hit the car would explode. After the cost-benefit analysis, Ford decided to go with its original gas tank designed despite the crash-test result. At that time Ford thought that would be the most ethical decision for the business. But later in 1978 media paid more attention to the Pinto gas tank stories, which resulted in accidents and many people lost their lives. Ford faced pressure from the media, the government, loss of future sales, loss of image, court cases, and had to recall 1.5 million Pintos. One wrong decision of the Pinto Ford representatives cost them more than what they assumed. In this case the argument and results would be different according to ones ethical views. The three main ethical theories I have chosen that could’ve changed the decision and result are; Mills—Consequentialism, Kant—Deontology, and Rawls –theory of distributive justice. According to Mills—Consequentialism ethics, the individuals made the ethical decision at that point. They were focusing on the end result, which was making money and benefiting business instead of fixing all the cars that would cost them $137.5 million. The company wanted to achieve their sales goal, and create the greatest amount of good for the company. The made the business cost benefit analysis, and their decision was beneficial for the
2. Suppose Ford officials were asked to justify their decision. What moral principles do you think they would invoke? Assess Ford’s handling of the Pinto from the perspective of each of the moral theories discussed in this chapter.
2. Suppose Ford officials were asked to justify their decision. What moral principles do you think they would invoke? Assess Ford’s handling of the Pinto from the perspective of each of the moral theories discussed in this chapter.
The customers (drivers of Ford) are the number one stakeholders that lost the most. They might not have lost much money or reputations, but they lost the one thing that you can never get back, their life.
This paper explores how ethical issues of Pinto case have affected the Ford Motor Company business environment. A number of factors suggest that Ford Motor Company was negligent and violated its code of ethics. In this paper, we will review the corporate culture mindset which prioritizes profit over the value of human life for the purpose financial gain.
Milton Friedman believed a free-market system, in which goods and services are exchanged and controlled by individuals and privately-owned businesses without government authority, was the only way to achieve personal freedom. Adam Smith, a 18th century philosopher and economist, held the belief that in a free society, the role of government should be limited to the protection of the people, the administration of justice through the court system, and the maintenance of all public resources. Adam Smith developed the concept of the “invisible hand” theory, which says within a society that is free of government interference, individuals can pursue actions out of their own self-interest, and the collective result of this
Many companies have ethical decisions that need to be and sometimes those decisions can affect many individuals or just a few. Making ethical decisions may be placed solely on one person’s shoulders or it may be a decision that multiple individuals must be involved in. There are several ethical issues in the Richardson Drilling case that should be considered. For instance, bribery, purchasing substandard parts with lack of disclosure that causes injuries, and revealing sensitive information. One potential ethical concern that could arise has to do with ongoing health insurance and the employer’s responsibility.
Management is often faced with ethical dilemmas that have no clear cut correct answer. In our case study, (1)Desperate Air, George Nash, Vice President of Real Estate faces a conflict of values similar to the CEO in Seglin’s article, “How to Make Tough Ethical Calls”. They both want to tell the truth and they want to protect their companies, their investors, their employees, and their own livelihood. Neither Mr. Nash nor the CEO conducted a through examination of the problem they faced. I believe the decision to remain silent made by both Nash and the CEO to be short sighted, based solely on short term profit, and would not have been the route I would have taken.
According to this framework ethical/unethical decisions are controlled/moderated by three independent variables, which are individual factors, significant others in an organizational setting, and opportunity for action. According to Ferrell & Gresham the three variables can be further categorized into individual and organizational contingencies. Individual factors like attitudes, knowledge, values, and intentions are assumed to be interacting with organizational factors, such as significant others and opportunity factors to influence an individual involved in an ethical/unethical dilemma. In the following paragraphs we will analyze how these individual as well as organizational factors interplayed in Courtland Kelley’s situation at GM.
On August 10, 1978 three young girls died in a 1973 Ford Pinto after being stuck from the rear by a driver in a van. The Ford Pinto was completely engulfed in flames and the accident resulted in the death of the three young girls. Today, the debate continues regarding whether or not The Ford Motor Company was responsible for this case and many other cases involving the Pinto bursting into flames resulting in disfigurement or death.
The deontological ethics states that there are things that we must do as a matter of principle regardless of consequences (Moral standards, PowerPoint Slides). Here the Vice President, Rodford had to act on the best interest of the company in making profit and surviving the competition against European and Japanese cars. Therefore he ignored the fact of putting people in risk of accidents. The positive right test assists the wellbeing of the company and its employee by making sales and profit. Whereas the negative right test overrides the wellbeing of the customers and the community members with the risk of death. Again since life is irreplaceable and profit can substituted by other means, the action of the company is wrong from the deontological view too.
In the mid to late 1960’s American automobile manufacturing was being dominated by Japanese imports. These imports, smaller in size than the domestic vehicles at the time, offered an economical and dependable alternative to what American automobiles offered. In order to remain competitive with these Japanese imports Ford chief executive officer Lee Iacoca instructed the Ford manufacturing company to come up with a vehicle for the 1971 sales year to compete with these Japanese imports. The normal time for design and production for a new vehicle line is 43 months but Iacoca ordered the process to be reduced to 25 months in order to compete. The timeline was met but a rear-end impact study was not conducted until after the car was already on sales lots. Drawn to the relatively inexpensive price for a vehicle at the time, Lily Gray purchased a 1972 Ford Pinto. This is where the production flaw of the Pinto was first revealed. Gray was traveling with 13 year old Richard Grimshaw on the highway when she had to slow to avoid a broke down vehicle. Also trying to avoid the broke down vehicle a Ford Galaxy traveling at approximately 50 miles per hour rear ended the Pinto. Almost immediately the Pinto burst into flames, both passengers had severe burns on their bodies, and later Lily Gray would pass away as a result of the burns from the crash.
The assumption that ‘it’s easy to be ethical’ assumes that individuals automatically know that they are facing an ethical dilemma and that they should simply choose to do the right thing. But decision makers may not always recognize that they are facing a moral issue. Rarely do decisions come with waving red flags. Dennis Gioia was recall coordinator at Ford Motor
On September 9, 2016, a veteran engineer of Volkswagen AG by the name of James Robert Liang pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, committing wire fraud, and violating the U.S. Clean Air Act. While working in Germany in 2006, Liang was part of a team charged with producing a new fuel-efficient diesel engine that satisfied new U.S. regulations on vehicle emissions. He and his team eventually came to the conclusion that their engine could not satisfy these new regulations while maintaining consumer expectations of engine performance. Their solution to this dilemma was to implement illegal software (known as a “defeat device”) into newly produced vehicles sold in the U.S. The purpose of this software was to detect any emissions test being performed on a vehicle and alter the results to show cleaner emissions on the onboard computer. Nearly 500,000 vehicles with this defeat device were sold in the U.S.; by 2008, consumers began to experience issues in their vehicles (not knowing it was due to the emission test software), and Liang worked to refine the device even further. The entirety of the scandal eventually came into the public spotlight in 2015 (Guess, 2016, p.1). The subsequent paragraphs of this essay will first discuss Kantian duty ethics and rule utilitarianism, and focus on analyzing the moral implications of Liang’s actions in reference to these moral theories.
First and foremost, it is the responsibility of the business to fulfill the interests of owners. It is the social responsibility of the business to ensure expectations are met. Kubasek et al (2016). The Voltzwagen engineers were not forthcoming and did not elaborate on their plan, this itself falls under business ethics, because of this negligence more problems have arisen including airbags not being deployed.
What a valuable employee, Sue definitely took the high road and handled that dilemma with integrity. Each person has many reasons for being ethical. Some reasons can be: inner beliefs, habits, virtue because it is its own reward, personal advantages, it's good business, there is approval, being an ethical person can lead to self-esteem, the admiration of loved ones and the respect of peers. There is also religion because it is believed that good behavior can please or help serve a deity. Ethical actions can fit in with upbringing or training. Ethics starts with the individual employee choosing the right or wrong decision.